SEC fatigue? Deal with it, or ask others to improve

By Dwight CollinsColumnist

Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 12:05 a.m.

Another year, another BCS Championship game victory for the Southeastern Conference, and a whole new round of SEC fatigue for the rest of the country.
Actually, I'm a bit fatigued from all the talk of SEC fatigue. Following seven years of league teams annually hoisting the BCS crystal, a torch being touched to the format a year ago when the SEC did the unthinkable and took up both spaces in the title game, and Monday's 42-14 thrashing of Notre Dame by repeat champ Alabama, it's time for all the flustered to quiet down and figure out where exactly all of the fatigue comes from, and why.
Hard work and a little luck can create an enormous amount of momentum, and no league has freight-trained through the rest of the country this way since John Wooden single-handedly ripped through NCAA tourneys for seven straight UCLA titles in the Creedence Clearwater Revival era.
It didn't last forever, obviously, but it will never be forgotten by everyone else who was amazed by the UCLA basketball dynasty and the so-called fatigue that it generated east of Westwood.
Can't keep up?
Then you have a real problem, because John Wooden never gave in, and the bosses of the SEC aren't going to politely just let this current, incredible run end without a fight.
And it appears — with two new programs, and a few emerging coaching stars in the league — that the new national semifinals that will be introduced after next season will only help the SEC in its increasingly difficult quest to place a member in the BCS title game during a day and age when Texas A&M is kept out of the BCS picture while Northern Illinois is welcomed, almost as a novelty act.
The new face and little BCS-buster talk was cute, until it spread disinterest across two Florida fan bases: FSU, which had to play NIU in the Orange Bowl, and UF, which caught Louisville in the trickle-down, making for an ugly and mostly apathetic showing during the Sugar Bowl by fans and players alike.
It would've been a mistake to rework the ending of the college football season into some sort of a full-blown playoff with brackets and 16th-seeded teams and such. But the four-team deal has great traction, and can allow a team like 2004's Auburn to slip into the mix and keep the SEC's title ships afloat.
Remember, if Ohio State had simply self-imposed a bowl ban on itself following the 2011 season, the Buckeyes would've been pushed into Monday's game against Notre Dame in a battle of unbeatens that would have had most of the Midwest — or the country, probably — more excited than Baseball Hall of Fame voters with more than Jeff Blauser and Kevin Tapani on the ballot.
But the Buckeyes' dream of beating an SEC team in a bowl game was too much to pass up when they accepted an invitation to Jacksonville, then lost to a Florida team wrapping up its worst season in recent memory a year ago.
SEC fatigue? It's a problem you'll have to face head-on, and with no help from the Alabamas, Floridas, LSUs and others that are in no hurry to see it end.
-----Dwight Collins can be reached at dwight.collins@starbanner.com.

Another year, another BCS Championship game victory for the Southeastern Conference, and a whole new round of SEC fatigue for the rest of the country.
Actually, I'm a bit fatigued from all the talk of SEC fatigue. Following seven years of league teams annually hoisting the BCS crystal, a torch being touched to the format a year ago when the SEC did the unthinkable and took up both spaces in the title game, and Monday's 42-14 thrashing of Notre Dame by repeat champ Alabama, it's time for all the flustered to quiet down and figure out where exactly all of the fatigue comes from, and why.
Hard work and a little luck can create an enormous amount of momentum, and no league has freight-trained through the rest of the country this way since John Wooden single-handedly ripped through NCAA tourneys for seven straight UCLA titles in the Creedence Clearwater Revival era.
It didn't last forever, obviously, but it will never be forgotten by everyone else who was amazed by the UCLA basketball dynasty and the so-called fatigue that it generated east of Westwood.
Can't keep up?
Then you have a real problem, because John Wooden never gave in, and the bosses of the SEC aren't going to politely just let this current, incredible run end without a fight.
And it appears — with two new programs, and a few emerging coaching stars in the league — that the new national semifinals that will be introduced after next season will only help the SEC in its increasingly difficult quest to place a member in the BCS title game during a day and age when Texas A&M is kept out of the BCS picture while Northern Illinois is welcomed, almost as a novelty act.
The new face and little BCS-buster talk was cute, until it spread disinterest across two Florida fan bases: FSU, which had to play NIU in the Orange Bowl, and UF, which caught Louisville in the trickle-down, making for an ugly and mostly apathetic showing during the Sugar Bowl by fans and players alike.
It would've been a mistake to rework the ending of the college football season into some sort of a full-blown playoff with brackets and 16th-seeded teams and such. But the four-team deal has great traction, and can allow a team like 2004's Auburn to slip into the mix and keep the SEC's title ships afloat.
Remember, if Ohio State had simply self-imposed a bowl ban on itself following the 2011 season, the Buckeyes would've been pushed into Monday's game against Notre Dame in a battle of unbeatens that would have had most of the Midwest — or the country, probably — more excited than Baseball Hall of Fame voters with more than Jeff Blauser and Kevin Tapani on the ballot.
But the Buckeyes' dream of beating an SEC team in a bowl game was too much to pass up when they accepted an invitation to Jacksonville, then lost to a Florida team wrapping up its worst season in recent memory a year ago.
SEC fatigue? It's a problem you'll have to face head-on, and with no help from the Alabamas, Floridas, LSUs and others that are in no hurry to see it end.
-----<BR>
<i>Dwight Collins can be reached at dwight.collins@starbanner.com.</i>